I’d like to thank Smooth Ambler and their PR team for providing this review sample with no strings attached.
Oh my goodness, it is great to be back. As much as I enjoy the brackets each year, they all get written ahead of time. So I usually get a few weeks away from writing to relax and get other things done. And, boy, did I get things done this year. Namely, I started a business. Kinda. I’ve been dog-sitting as a side hustle for six years but decided to formalize that business into an LLC. I had to research, buy, and implement booking software, get insurance, and move my clients from the platform I’d been using to the new one. Hell, even small things like business cards and a website needed to be created.
It was an excellent time to have posts pre-written ahead, let me tell you.
What that meant though was that I had a ton of samples stacked up that I wasn’t tasting. And so, let’s just jump into the first one and work our way through the backlog. Tonight’s bourbon is from Smooth Ambler. Smooth Ambler is a small distillery in West Virginia owned by Pernod Ricard. They are best known for their Old Scout line of sourced whiskeys, but they also distill their own as well. Founders’ Cask Strength is made from one of those bourbons that they distilled in-house. Specifically their “Bourbon Mashbill #2” which consists of 71% corn, 21% rye, and 8% malted barley. Founders’ will be released in select markets (California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas) for $54.99 per 750 mL bottle and 900 cases are going to be produced per year across six batches. The press release was kind enough to share a quote from the Smooth Ambler founder (fitting) so let’s hear what he has to say about the product:
As John Little states, “What’s great about the Founders’ Cask Strength Series is we finally get to let y’all taste delicious whiskey we’ve been excitedly working on for years in our part of the whiskey world – West Virginia. With this Bourbon recipe, we add a modest amount of Rye to play well with high corn content and let it age in Char #4 casks in the Appalachian climate. It’s a surprising meddling of flavors and geographical superpowers that just work effortlessly. So please enjoy this newly minted convergence of flavors, from our home to yours.”
Ok. That’s enough with the background. Let’s move on to the important stuff, how does it taste?
Smooth Ambler Founder's Cask Strength Series, Batch 4, 2022
Purchase Info: This was provided by the producer for review purposes. The suggested retail price is $54.99 for a 750 mL bottle and is available in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas.
Price per Drink (50 mL): $3.67
Details: 61.4% ABV. Six years old. Mash bill: 71% corn, 21% rye, and 8% malted barley.
Nose: Honey, cinnamon, oak, and mint.
Mouth: Chocolate, oak, leather, berries, and cinnamon.
Finish: Sweet and medium length. Leather, chocolate, mint, anise, and cinnamon.
Thoughts: This is quite tasty—lots of oak-derived notes, such as leather and chocolate. The finish is the best and most complex part, precisely how I'd plan it if I were in charge. Delicious.
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